WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES
They’re mounting yet another impressive show
for these Chinese Winter Olympic Games,
one cold and false as icy man-made snow.
These winter games, as always, hype the glow
of athletes who sacrifice much to make their names
the brightest triumphs of this most impressive show.
But those who watch the sessions surely know
these games are made to achieve political aims
as cold and false as icy man-made snow.
Threats of war in the east and west still grow,
as Xi and Putin grandstand their imperial claims—
but they still provide a most impressive show.
It’s sad to see bad politics turn feats to no
big thing, to obscure with them dead Uyghur names.
They’re mounting yet another impressive show,
one cold and false as icy man-made snow.
—from Poets Respond
February 19, 2022
__________
Mark Grinyer: “This villanelle responds to the current Winter Olympic Games, in which hundreds of athletes who have devoted their lives to their sports must perform, as is always the case for Olympic Games, in a politically charged atmosphere, in which major competing countries and especially the host country, China, are pursuing genocidal policies and/or threatening war on a global scale.”
